Action sports such as paintball have become very popular activities. Paintball is a sporting game having two teams of players usually trying to capture one another's flag. The sport is played on a large field with opposing home bases at each end. Each team's flag is located at the player's home base. In addition, all of the players have compressed gas guns (referred to herein as either “guns,” “compressed gas guns,” “markers” or “paintball markers”) that shoot projectiles commonly referred to as paintballs. The paintballs are generally spherical gelatin capsules filled with liquid paint or dye. During play of the sport, the players on each team advance towards the opposing team's base in hopes of stealing the opposing team's flag, without being eliminated from the war game. A player is eliminated from the game when the player is hit by a paintball fired from an opposing player's marker. When the paintball hits a player it usually ruptures leaving a “splat” of paint.
Compressed gas guns using a source of compressed gas for firing projectiles are well known. Examples of compressed gas guns used in the sport of paintball, include products sold under the brand names EMPIRE, INDIAN CREEK DESIGNS, DIABLO, 32 DEGREES, and BT. As shown in FIGS. 1 and 10, generally, compressed gas guns 10 include a gun body 12, grip 14, barrel 16, and trigger 18. The barrel is usually 10 to 14 inches long. It is connected to the gun body at a second end 20 and has a longitudinal bore 22—shown in FIG. 5, for example, in communication with the breech 24 (chambering area) of the gun body, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 10. The paintball 26 passes from the breech 24 into the barrel bore 22 and then is expelled under the force of compressed gas. The markers are hand held and easily transportable and generally weigh no more than about 7 pounds without the gas tank and paintball feeder or “hopper” attached. As used herein, “compressed gas gun” refers to any gun or similar launching mechanism for use in sport wherein a projectile is fired via the force of compressed gas, and includes paintball markers.
As used herein, “projectile” or “projectiles” refers to both paintballs, and other projectiles used in sport and game play. For example, the sport of airsoft utilizes compressed gas guns firing pellets. In the sport of paintball, paintballs generally have a diameter of about between 0.67 and 0.71 inches. Paintballs are generally fired from paintball markers at a velocity of between about 200 and about 500 feet per second.
Because paintball is often played on a large field, compressed gas guns must be able to shoot over long distances and with accuracy. In addition, as shown in FIGS. 6-9 and explained later, the sport of paintball may be played on a field with obstacles (“paintball bunkers”) or in the woods. Players 86 often hide behind bunkers, trees or other obstacles 88 to avoid being hit with a paintball. To more easily strike these players 86, some devices for altering or affecting the trajectory of a projectile fired from a compressed gas gun have been invented. One is disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/437,577 and U.S. Pat. No. 7,040,310. The entire contents of these are incorporated by reference herein.
It would be advantageous to have a barrel attachment for a compressed gas gun that fires a projectile for an increased distance as compared to current compressed gas guns.
In addition, it would be advantageous to have a barrel attachment for a compressed gas gun that can fire a projectile with a user selected curved trajectory.
In addition, it would be advantageous to have a barrel attachment for a compressed gas gun that can change the trajectory of a projectile fired from the gun in an easy and effective manner during sport play, without removing the barrel attachment from the gun or barrel of the gun.